The Championship
by Tribesman2004
Summary: Woot! Chapter 4 is up, after a long too long wait. In this one, I make a personal appearance, as does my good friend Crimson Frost. If you see either of us online, give up. All your base are belong to us!
1. Prolouge

Eclipse kneeled behind the barricade, breathing heavily. Behind him,  
through the barricade, was the current champion, Xan Kriegor wielding  
a Shock Rifle and laser sharp eye. Eclipse was pinned down, as Xan  
was simply too good a shot with the rifle. even if Eclipse had a  
speed boost, Xan would easily put 3 holes in him before he could even  
fire back. To his right, about 3 meters away, was another barricade  
in the rectangular room. Even better, behind it, hidden from Xan,  
was a Redeemer, probably the one thing that that would make Xan  
tremble. Pretty much a small nuke, if he got his hands on it, he  
could take Xan out of the running, and have time to recover and plan  
the rest of match out. He clutched his Assault Rifle in his right  
hand. It was small, light and with a Grenade Launcher, pretty useful.  
Since he was out of grenades, and even his 2 Enforcer pistols hit  
harder, it was really only good to lay down covering fire.  
  
Closing his eyes, and hoping for the best, he dove out, hoping his  
fusillade of fire would distract the champ, but most of his shots  
just bounced off his armor like pennies thrown by a child. His left  
arm reached for the Missile Launcher, but even as he got close, he  
could see it being teleported away, back to wherever it was hidden to  
begin with. Eclipse grit his teeth in frustration, then in pain as  
he saw Xan's blue beam lance through his wrist armor, flesh and bone  
like it was paper.  
  
When he hit the ground, he forced himself into a roll, carrying  
himself behind the barricade. Willing away the pain, he pressed his  
back against the short wall. "This... is...... sooooo bad." Eclipse  
mused. There was a health pack, filled with precious nanobots, but  
it was all of 3 meters away. Yeah right he thought to himself. His  
optical computers, which showed him his vital signs, ammo, and other  
data, showed him that he was at about 10%. Next shot from that rifle  
won't hurt at all he thought, since it will be more than enough to  
finish me.  
  
While he was mulling over his options, hoping Xan wouldn't  
capitalize, he heard the familiar sound of a Rocket Launcher firing,  
and from the repeated Shock Rifle shots that answered, missing  
entirely. Confirming his hunch, he saw 3 other competitors entering  
the small room. Xan easily dispatched 2 with shots to the face, with  
the third being a bit more elusive. Wearing the same armor as Xan,  
Eclipse recognized him as Frost, one of the crowd favorites to win.  
Using a Sniper Rifle, he scored several direct his on Xan's helmet,  
only to have them glance off. "Damn it!" cursed Frost, and he made  
his retreat to find something more suitable to cracking open the  
shell.  
  
Seeing his chance, he leapt to the health pack, and as soon as he  
touched it, felt a slight sting as the Nanites pierced through his  
skin, but only momentarily, and could see them starting to rebuild  
his wrist. He heard another sound, as hundreds of bullets bounced of  
the walls, and Xan's armour, then it stopped. Eclipse looked up, and  
saw Xan holding a tall man by his wrist, with his right hand wrapped  
around his neck. Looking at him, he couldn't see if he was alive or  
not, but as Xan started to pull his arm, he started screaming, and  
went completely pale as his arm was completely ripped off, spraying  
blood all over the room and it's occupants. Still alive, he looked  
at horror at where his arm used to be, and with his now free right  
hand, Xan pressed a button on his belt, summoning his own Enforcer  
Pistol. Pressing it to his victims chin, and pausing only a second to  
watch him grimace, fired a shot, splattering the contents of his head  
all over the wall. Pressing another button, his team teleported his  
Shock Rifle back to him, he fired a ball of energy over to where  
Eclipse used to be, then as it passed over the second barricade, hit  
the ball with a beam of energy, causing it to explode spectacularly,  
enough that it would have turned him into a puddle. Confident the  
room was cleared, he walked out, and as he passed the door, Eclipse  
overheard him muttering "I thought he would have been more  
challenging this time around".

In the back of his mind, he tried to  
remember the first time he had clashed with the Armored Titan, and  
his team of cyborgs almost as tough as he, The Corrupt. Clearing his  
mind, he pressed a button on his belt, bringing his Dual Enforcers  
into existence in his hands. To make a move now, before the nanos  
fully expired would be suicide, so he pressed into a nook by the  
door, where he easily frag any one who wandered in, and would have  
time to rest and reflect about how the hell he got himself into this  
hell hole.


	2. First Blood

_How did I get myself stuck in this mess? Eclipse thought to himself. He remembered the day he went to sign up for the tournament. He trained for years, following the tournament trends, keeping up with the latest in weapons technology, and following the different competitors. When he turned 21, he went down to the Liandri building to register as a Team captain. He had to take several tests over the last 3 years to make sure of his ability, but he passed all of them, overcoming every challenge and maintaining himself in the top 90 of his group. The process was very selective, and anyone with a score under 85 wasen't even considered._

When he got to the building, and stood in line, he looked around. He saw several odd entrants. He saw what looked like some kind of Space Marine with a Double Barreled shotgun, and even though he diden't look very agile, he still looked like he went to Hell and back. He saw another stupid ass in a blue jump suit, with golden spiky hair and a huge sword. "Bastard wouldn't last 5 minutes...".

The new rules for this year said that combatants could bring a weapon of their own, provided they were approved by the judges, and akimbo weapons were encouraged. Eclipse, being a huge fan of the old time actor "John Whoo" or something like that, had managed to get a hold of a pair of Enforcer Pistols, .45 caliber, though he saw a wide variety of guns. There was also talk of allowing teams to buy their own vehicles for use in the Onslaught ladder, but it was unconfirmed until the rules actually came out, near the end of the CTF ladder.

Though most entrants were human, he saw several Gen Mo'kai, though they stuck to themselves. He know there would be Skaarj in the tournament, but due to the Human-Skaarj treaty from the Skaarj War, no Skaarj was allowed to step foot on Earth, and would be entered on one of the Space Stations orbiting the planet. Eclipse was glad. He wasen't _scared_ of them per say, but with the smaller, passive ones being 6ft, 275lbs, 80 muscle mass, armor-like scales, and trained from birth, or hatching, to be the most feared killers in the galaxy, he had a, shall we say, healthy respect for them.

When it finally came to be his turn, they asked him a barrage of questions, from his first car, to his last test from school. After answering their questions for 10 minutes, he was told to head through a door behind the counter. Once he did, he found himself in room with several other men and women, all standing straight, facing towards a small stage with a podium. After about 15 minutes, a man in a suit came out to the Mic on the podium.

"Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen, and Gen Mo'kai. You have passed the first phase of the tournament entry, and have been accepted. Tonight, you will sleep in your provided living quarters aboard our Space Station, and in the morning, will engage in an elimination round. Any questions?"

One of the men in front of Eclipse raised his hand. "Uh, will the Skaarj be present on the Station, and will the match be to the death?" The man in the suit laughed. "Yes, their will be Skaarj. They will be allowed free run of the station, same as you. They won't cause trouble if you don't. And that depends on what you mean by "to the death". Just as in the real thing, you will have several clones waiting. Your brain waves will constantly be down-loaded into the computer, and when you die, will be down-loaded into on of the clones, and sent out again. Of coarse, we will keep one clone of you out of combat, so you will go on living."

Eclipse inwardly frowned. Live fire weapons and full cloning for an elimination match? Liandri was rich, he knew, but rich enough to squander resources like that amazed him. Cloning was of coarse available to the public, but at an enormous cost that only the top 1/100th of 1 of the wealthy could afford, and it would still bankrupt most of them. After another hour of talking, they were loaded onto a shuttle and went into space. It wasen't his first time in space, so Eclipse slept most of the way. After an uneventful night, he began to get ready for the match.

After Eclipse woke up, he had a light breakfast, joking with several other entrants. There was an uneasy peace in the air, all knowing full well that in a few scant ours, they would become each others killers. He reported to the arena at 0900, and was given the standard armor. "Dun worry," said one of his controllers, "Afta dis youze can buy wutever arma youze want!" It thrilled Eclipse that his controller, the man responsible for sending his weapons and ammo when he needed it, could barely speak English. He was directed in the teleporter and was told he would appear with an assault rifle, although he would also have a combat knife, and his pistols to select from immediantly. As he teleported in, he listened to the announcements.

**"Welcome all!" Boomed a huge voice in his ear. He knew the voice was also being transmitted out to the viewers on TV. "You are watching the Liandri Tournament Elimination rounds. Today we have 32 of the most promising hopefuls ready to kill and be killed for your viewing pleasure! Ready? Three... Two...One... GO!"**

As soon as he heard the word, he ran forward and grabbed a minigun laying on the ground in front of him. Looking around quickly, he surveyed the room. Pretty much a metal box, with exposed pipes and wires all over the walls, it had 2 doors, both near the far corner of the room. He edged to one of the walls, and looked down the hallway. Seeing nothing he rushed forward. As he neared the end of the hall, he heard the sound of an Assault Rifle being fired continuously. He saw another warrior back into the hallway, firing into the room. Eclipse sprinted forward, and just as the man turned around, rammed his shoulder into his chest, sending him back back 2 meters and to the ground. Eclipse took aim, and fired. As the bullets flew from the spinning barrels, he saw the man jerk wildly, spraying blood all over the walls and the floor behind him.

**"Ohh, first frag goes to Eclipse!" Boomed the announcer.**

Stepping into the room, gun first, 2 blades slashed down on his minigun destroying it, while another scaled grabbed him and threw him into the room. When he hit the floor, he went into a roll, pushing the button on his belt and summoning his combat knife. Coming up in a low fighting stance, he took a step back to dodge the Skaarj's slash that would have decapitated him. Slashing back, his blade meet with the Skaarj's. When the deadlock broke, both combatants leapt back a meter to regain his stance. The Skaarj came in with 2 low slashes to the shin, and tried to surprise Eclipse with a raising slash, but only managed to graze the front of his armor. Seeing his chance, he leapt forward, slashing at the mighty warriors under arm, severing an artery. Green blood sprayed all over the Skaarj, Eclipse, and the walls of the room. The Skaarj roared in anger, his superior physiology cutting off the flow of blood to the artery, and rerouted it through several smaller vessels. For several more minutes he and the Skaarj went back and forth, neither gaining any real advantage, until another body jumped the Skaarj from behind, knocking him to the floor. Eclipse quickly switched to his pistols, and when the Skaarj looked up, fired of 2 shots into his eyes. The large bullets entered the soft yellow orb that served as eyes, and when they exited the back of the skull, were trailed by the contents of the skull, and spread his brains all over the floor and wall behind him.

Looking over at the one who hit the Skaarj from behind, he noticed it was the guy he had sat with that morning. "Hey Eclipse, that was a nice..." That was as far as he got before Eclipse fired a slug into his mouth, spilling his brains on the floor next to the Skaarj's.

**"Two more _brutal_ frags for Eclipse! He's on FIRE!" Yelled the announcer, clearly engrossed by both the swirling melee he was just in, and the 2 executions that followed.**

Eclipse heard the familiar report of a Flak Cannon being fired, and dodged away from the hallway in time to see the cloud of shrapnel fly past. Wasting no time, he scrambled to his feet, and tried to look around he corner. The opponent in green armour fired again, and Eclipse ducked back a millisecond too late, and caught some flak in the shoulder. His optical sensors registered it as a flesh wound, so he shunted the pain aside. _ About 4 meters... _He waited what seemed like an eternity, and kicked with his foot as the barrel of the Flak Cannon rounded the corner, looking for a target. His foot caught the Cannon, and pushed it barrel to the ceiling, where it fired again. Flak rained down on both of them, alot more this time. His sensors showed he had 40 left. Taking advantage of the moment the gun was pointing away from him, he drove his shoulder into his assailant. Pushing him against the wall, he realized he was still at a disadvantage. _If he gets his gun back in line with me, I'm toast. But I can't risk using it on him at this range when he's against the wall!_ Thinking quickly, he let go of one of his opponents hands, while keeping his other hand on the Flak Cannon, and pushed on of the buttons on his belt. The Flak Cannon quickly faded away, to be replaced by his knife. The combatant in green armor looked in shock at what was once one of the most feared weapons in the arena, and was now a knife, as Eclipse twisted it out of his hand, and put it through his throat with enough force to push it through the pipe behind him. Eclipse took a step back, drew his pistol, and put a round through his heart, rapidly draining his body of the once precious fluid.

**"Incredible! He can't be stopped!" **

Turning down the hallway again, he started to run down it, only to be interrupted halfway by someone jumping out from around the corner with an assault rifle. _Damn!_ Skidding to a stop, he tried to run back, only for another rifle wielding attacker to jump out. _Aww, for the love of god..._ Both pulled their rifles to their shoulders, preparing to shred Eclipse with bullets. Dropping down to one knee, and stepping out sideways with the other, he pointed a pistol down either way. _Might as well go down with a fight! _All three opened fire at the same time, filling the hall with bullets. Their first few shots flew cleanly over his head, hitting and wounding each other, but both started to trace his fire down. Eclipse continually fired his pistols, and watched as one dropped to a knee, then as his head exploded in a hail of gore. Ignoring the stings of pain, he turned both pistols on the remaining attacker. He saw several spurts of blood, but his armors health indicator was dropping fast. _ 35...28...21...17...9..._ He finnaly managed to his the attacker in the throat , causing it to disappear in a flash of red.

"**Ladies and Gentlemen, 2 more for Eclipse! That puts him in a 5-2 lead!"**

Eclipse tried to get to his feet, and when he did, pain lanced up his leg. He looked down at what was once his kneecap, only to find a mangled piece of meat and cartalidge. Through grit teeth and sheer effort, he climbed to his feet, keeping his weight off his leg. As fast as he could, he limped down the rest of the hall, to the empty room. He had never felt pain like this before, and he was panicking, searching for a health pack, or anything to take the pain away. He rounded another corner, and saw a second too late as someone put a sniper rifle to his good knee and fired. All his senses exploded in a blazing star of agony, and he dropped to his side. Looking up, he saw the face of my man he shot in the mouth earlier, the one he had sat with. With a cruel smile, he tilted his head back and laughed. Seeing his opportunity, he raised his pistol to the mans face. Looking down, both he and the man fired at the same time, both heads popping like blood filled balloons.

"**Thats a shame folks, Eclipse went down! But look at Gragskul, the Skaarj warrior from..."**

The match ended soon after that, Eclipse winning 6 to 4, with the top 8 being accepted into the tournament proper.

After the match, there were cheers, there were fans and tournament workers clapping. And there was one very pissed off face waiting for him.

"What the hells wrong with you, going crazy like that! I thought we were friends! Because of you I wasen't accepted!"

Eclipse looked at him with annoyance. "Friends? Who the hell said we were friends? Even if were are, if you think I or anyone else is going to go easy on you in the arena, your friggin' stupid."

He seemed to gag for a second, then turned away and stormed off. Several people came and congratulated him, and reporters from this network and that channel swarmed him asking about how he felt, what was it like, and every other conceivable question. He answered for a few minutes, but being as tired as he was, managed to slip away and get in a waiting limo to take him back to his room.

So began his one way trip into the violence, hatred, and death of the Liandri Tournaments.


	3. Round 2

As Eclipse sat in his nook, hearing the sounds of combat outside, he tried to remember if anything he had learned up until now would help him. His first championship match came to mind...

Nothing like this of coarse. In an effort to prevent one sided match-ups, and therefor poor ratings, Liandri had instituted a tier system into the Deathmatch arena. He was on A now, but had been on D at the time. There were 2 ways to advance. Earn enough points to fight the champion, and beat him, or simply spend a long enough time in one arena. Eclipse, rising quickly through the ranks, went for the first option. If he won, he could be in Tier "C", as well as being the D Tier champion. That meant he was paid more, had more benefits, respect, and could participate in special matches.

One advantage to being champ was you always choose the arena to fight in. Of coarse that would make his challenge that much more difficult. In an effort to make his match a little more possible, he studied his opponent and his record.

His name was "Hellscream". He was about 7 foot tall, and his shoulders wide enough he had trouble fitting through most doors. He wore a modified Goliath Armor, but it was a hideous clash of yellow, purple, and orange, with no pattern, just random streaks of color. He had a helmet that reminded Eclipse of some sort of evil demon clown.

His weapon was huge. A large rectangular barrel attacked to his left arm, with a large cable leading to an almost comicly large backpack. It was listed as recovered from the Planet Skaarj after the war, but before the treaty was signed 1 week later. This was incredibly rare, and fortunate for whoever found it, as all items collected outside that window were contraband, and possessing one was worthy of death. The only reason there was a window at all was because of an oversight that made it impossible for the NEG to cover the time-frame. Chaotic Dreams, a weapons manufacturer, had made an absolute killing, as they had a delivery ship there to resupply the NEG troops, and had to stay behind for repairs. Information leaked to them about the situation, and they landed, and grabbed every piece of technology their ship could hold.

This weapon, The Sonic Destructor, was very simply, a very large speaker, capable of ungodly destructive power. It was a variable weapon, meaning it could punch a half meter hole straight through a Goliath MBT, then with a twist of the barrel, could send the tank flying almost 5 meters.

Eclipse had upgraded his armor since the qualifying rounds, and now wore a newer suit of power armor, much like Xan's, but with a different helmet mated to it. Painted black with red highlights, it gave him tremendous protection, as well as increased his strength, speed, and senses as well. It could stop an Assault Rifle dead without too much trouble. It diden't matter though. One round of theSonic Destructor's primary fire would kill him no problem, and one shot from secondary fire would more than likely turn his insides into a paste. Still, with his speed and agility, he woulden't have too much trouble dodging in the open arena.

There was one small detail that threw a wild-card into the equation. The arena was no longer open... sometimes. To "spice up an old favorite", they changed the arena, so what it would raise parts, and lower others, forming a laberynth of trenches, that he would have to maneuver through. As strong as that gun was, it shoulden't be able to hit him through all that stone. There would be no way to target him.

Foot steps snapped him back into reality. He saw an opponent rush into the room, looking for something that Eclipse wasen't about to let him find. _How the hell did he make it so far making rookie mistakes like THAT?_ His first shot from the Enforcers entered through the man's throat, spraying blood and gore in a cloud in front of him. The second shot entered his skull, and exited through the forehead, leaving a huge gaping hole, expelling the contents of the cranial cavity. _Back to the match..._

He remembered the start of the match. **"Welcome to the D-Tier Championships! Today, we have the first challenger in the last 5 years! Eclipse has been in the arena for only a matter of weeks, and is already planning his move to the C-Tier! But to stop him Liandri has sent a truly formidable, truly _monstrous_ opponent! HellScream!** The crowd went crazy with the announcement of the names, and Eclipse could only guess the number was in the thousands. They were no where near, of coarse, for safety.

As the time counted down to the start, the floor started to shift. He noted with amusement that Hellscream was in the middle, a large open area about 10 Meters around. With his bulk, he would be trapped there until the floor leveled out again. **"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...FIGHT!"** Eclipse started moving, turning corner after corner, picking up a Shock Rifle, a Minigun, and a Flak Cannon, as well as a shield. _I'm off to a pretty good start..._ Just then, he heard something coming, turned to the center, and saw a long wall of smoke and debris reaching to him. He jumped the the side, while a circular blast missed him by scant centimeters.

_How in the hell did he target me!_ Running in a random set of turns and back-pedals, he was rewarded with several more blasts to dodge, sometimes close enough they took the paint off his armour. Until he came to a long hallway, leading away from the center. It was about 50 meters long, with only one entrance, and one exit. A previous blast had made the way he came impassable, so he only had one choice. _Oh yeah, this is AWESOME!_

Running as fast as he could he could hear another blast coming towards him. Thinking fast, he moved to run along the right wall, then, jumped to the left, and back-flipped over the blast, onto the right wall. Turning around, and arming his Flak Cannon, he ran towards to the center. He jumped off the edge, just as HellScream turned to look at him. Firing his Flak Cannon from a distance of 1.5 meters, he was rewarded by most of the flak glancing off, while a very few pieces managed to find penetration, he could see it was only superficial. Then HellScream twisted the barrel, and fired. For a moment, all Eclipse could see was a thousand exploding stars in his eyes. He could feel himself flying through the air. _Wall..._ he thought briefly, just before the slammed into the wall, and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

His HUD showed that nothing was broke, but he had several internal injuries, and his left arm was fractured, while his suit was applying pain killers and tightening around it, forming a splint, it still hurt like all hell. His HUD showed he was down to 8 health from the one blast. _That was WITH 50 shields to!_ _Ok, to re-cap, he can see me through walls, he can shoot through walls, his shots REALLY hurt, and his armour is too tough for even a close range Flak Cannon to damage. Well, screw the Flak Cannon any way, the blast smashed it to pieces. _Another blast was coming to him, and he managed to hobble out of the way just in time. He walked through 2 health pickups, and they worked quick, restoring him to 58.

_Better than nothing I guess. _Thinking quick, he decided that while the Shock Rifle was the only gun that could _maybe_ penetrate HellScream's armour, he would only get one shot off if he was lucky. He diden'y really like the idea of running around getting more health, then getting shot with the cannon again, several more times. _But if I can change the Rifles output..._ "Is there anyway to increase the Shock Rifles output?" he spoke into his Mic. The voice of his new operate came back to him: "Yes, thats how Liandri makes Instagib Rifles. But we done have the parts..." She said. "I don't need anything that hi-tech, I just need a one hit wonder." He said. "Well, alright, but you'll have to do it, we can't touch your guns." "Fair enough, as long as you walk me through it." He responded.

In the end, it was a simple matter of jury rigging the attenuation circuits, and having his operator daisy chain the power cells together. That and bypassing every safety they put on the Rifle. It would fire one shot. No more. After that, it would either melt in his hand, or explode, they wern't sure which. But it would get the job done. Maybe. Better than anything else at any rate.

"Remember, its range and accuracy took a huge hit, so you'll have to be pretty close to have any effect." Spoke his operator. "You mean I get to get real close and get shot with that huge gun again? I can't friggin wait." He spat sarcasticly. "Hey, this is YOUR plan, not mine. I diden't even want you to take this match." She retorted. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

After a while, he managed to work himself near the center. He turned a corner, and was staring down the barrel of the Sonic Destructor. Jumping back around the corner, then jumping off the wall behind him, he sailed narrowly over the blast, right into the middle. He was just 2 meters away from the champ now, and his gun needed a second to recharge. _ One more second than he'll get from me! _He aimed the Shock Rifle, and pulled the trigger.

For a brief heart beat, nothing happened, and Eclipse thought it wasn't going to work, and his death would be very quick, and very painful. Then it happened. It was a cone of pure energy. By the time, it crossed the 2 meter gap, it was already as tall as the champ. He staggered, then Eclipse could no longer see him through the bright cone of light. He saw the weapon start to glow yellow, then let go, just before it exploded. When the smoke cleared, he saw something that made him want to break down and cry. All 7 feet of the champion, ready to put an end to this miserable challenge.

Then he looked again. His armor was partially melted, and fused in some places. It had dozens of small holes, and he could see charred flesh through them. Seizing his chance, he equipped his Enforcers, ran forward, and went to work. Pressing the barrel of the gun to a hole, he fired 2-3 shots, and moved it to the next hole. HellScream tried to move, but his fused armour held him in place. His arms were stuck, and his cannon was pointing straight down, useless. Or so Eclipse though.

Eclipse heard a blast, and felt himself tumbling through the air again. _He fired it straight down! _Warning symbols flashed like made in his HUD, and when he hit, he felt his teeth rattle in his head, or did his head rattle around his teeth? It diden't matter, it hurt a whole lot. One warning symbol showed his armour was seriously damaged, one showed that he was seriously damaged, he couldn't make sense of it, and he diden't care. Some woman was shouting in his ear. _My operator?_ He pressed the button on his belt, and his 2 knives appeared. He stumbled forward, ready to either hand out death, or meet his own, what was the difference? Somewhere off in the distance, he was aware that his armour was malfunctioning, and pumping him full of pain-killers, stimulants, depressants, coagulants and anti-coagulants. He felt like that was a different time, a different place. He felt like he was sitting somewhere far away, controlling himself through some kind of computer. Slowly, his armour ran out of drugs, and his mind began to clear.

HellScream regained his footing to. Eclipse rolled beside him, and stabbed into the large cable between the Sonic Destructor's barrel and backpack. Sparks flew everywhere, and with a bright flash, the once powerful weapon fell silent for good. As HellScream turned, Eclipse caught his knife under his helmet and wrenched, tearing it off. Then his backpack and gun exploded, throwing both into the air. He landed about 8 meters away. Sometime between now and when he fired his rifle, the floor returned to normal. _Did I black out?_ Getting up, he realized his knives were nowhere to be found. He pushed a button, and grabbed his pistol. He limped over to his fallen opponent. Something was deffanitly broken now. His HUD no longer displayed any information about his armor, only the basics about his Health, which was at 5, and ammo.

Standing over his enemy, he could now see his face, and was shocked. It was... human. Of coarse he was human, but he was... normal. He diden't look Gene-boosted, mutated, or cybornetic. "Please..." He rasped. "Kill... me..." Judging from all the blood he was coughing up, he diden't need any help. "Kill... me... and..." Eclipse cocked his head. "And what?" "And... and... make... them pay... for... what they... did to me... my family..." More blood. "Who? What who did to you?" "Li... Li..." That was all he could get out before he started writhing in pain, from some internal injury. With one more bullet, Eclipse put him out of his pain.

After that battle, after all the press, during the party, he got with his operator. "I want you to find out everything you can about HellScream. His past I mean. You have a picture of his face?" She nodded. "Yes, your optical implants were still recording." "Good. I want to know everything about him, and I don't care how you find out. Go to street hackers if you have to." She nodded again. "Got it".

After the party, he went home to his appartment. He had several thousand e-mails, from fans, from family, friends, ads for things he would never need, from Liandri, but for the moment, all he wanted was sleep...


	4. A whole new league

Eclipse Braced himself against the wall. Outside, he heard a staccato of Assault Rifle fire. The Health packs had finished their work long ago. Really, it only took a handful of seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. He was at about 50 life now, but he decided to hang back, and wait for another health pack to be teleported in. Some people called it camping, but he would only be another minute, and this was not a spawn point, so to hell with them.

"**Frag Booster is on a RAMPAGE!" **The announcer shouted.

Frag Booster was one of the top 3 combatants in the entire tournament. He, Crimson Frost, and Xan Kriegor were the 3 most feared, deadliest fighters the tournament had ever seen, racking up kill counts and performing feats that many thought impossible. He had fought against all 3 several times, even teamed up with Frost and Frag a few times, but he had never been in the arena with all 3 at the same time before. Eclipse was in 4th place, a few kills behind them, while they battled back and forth for the lead. It was a close fight.

The match was last man standing, with each warrior having 5 respawns. Eclipse had used 1 already, but none of the top 3 had used any, while each being responsible for dozens of kills so far. Frost won the "Head Hunter" Title long ago, dropping people with the Sniper Rifle, while Frag won "Flak Monkey" after clearing out a room of 24 combatants alone, and Xan had earned "Combo Whore", from clearing out hallways with the Shock Rifle. Eclipse wondered briefly, who was the deadliest with which weapon?

He remembered the first time he was in a match with them. It was CTF-Face, Eclipse was on Red team, lead by Frag Booster. Crimson Frost lead Blue team. Even though he was the "D" Tier Champion, it was a huge honor to be selected to fight alongside someone like Frag Booster.

He arrived at the Liandri Arena Complex, which inside, was something like a huge workshop, with competitors given their own "Pit". He went to his, and greeted his operator, who, even though Eclipse was about an hour early, was still their earlier, setting things up, making sure everything was perfect. His operator, Kara Calle, was part mechanic, part technician, part… well, phone operator. Normally, an operator simply communicated with them during the match, relaying information, answering questions, and things of that nature. However, Kara insisted on going over the settings of his armor, preferred weapon settings (Most spectators didn't know, but each competitor could adjust things like rate of fire, choke, and things like that. When he picked up a weapon, it automatically took on his settings.), and even mapped out the arena, with all the known locations to weapons, power ups, places for a good ambushes, sniping points, the works. Obviously, he had fought on CTF-Face before, and knew all of that, but she insisted. Her thoroughness did help him relax, and had helped in other matches before.

He also saw Frag Booster and Crimson Frost, talking together heading to the cafeteria. It was no secret that while they would go at each other relentlessly in the arena, they were actually good friends. Eclipse had met several people he considered friends, and when he joined the team ladders as a captain, was considering recruiting to his team.

Kara interrupted his train of thought. "I found out this match was with Chaos Weapons. Were you aware of that?" Chaos Weapons were made by, obviously enough, Chaotic Dreams. They were a military arms manufacturer before the Skaarj Wars, but after they struck veritable gold on the surface, they became a private weapons manufacturer. "No one told me anything. I'll pick my melee weapon in a minute." One of the things they found on the surface was some technology or technique to allow melee weapons to no only penetrate modern day armor, but pass through it as if it wasn't there. The addition of true Melee weapons brought a completely new side to the arena. Eclipse choose the Dual Daggers, since he had some training on knife fighting back before he joined. He asked his teammates and one choose the Bastard Sword, another choose the Double Axe, someone else choose the Templar Sword, and someone choose a Warhammer. He heard that after a coin toss, Frag booster and Frost both choose the katana.

When the match began, he started behind the tower. He ran, and grabbed a C.U.T.T.E.R., which was a remake of the Ripper, but with improvements to allow it to penetrate the modern armor used. He ran inside, grabbed a Crossbow and some Explosive arrows for it, and ran to the Central Teleporter. Usually he preferred close range combat, but with he knew that Frag Booster was going to their base, and would need covering fire. He Grabbed the Rifle, and a clip of Normal bullets, and RPB Rounds. He dropped off the right side, down 2 levels. From here, he could barely see the Blue entrance, but it would be much harder to spot him there. Loading up a round, he first looked at the top of their Tower, and saw him. Clad in Black Armor, with Red Highlights, with Team Color Blue shoulder pads, was Crimson Frost, already drawing a bead on someone. They both fired at the same time. While Eclipse couldn't see if Frost's show hit home, he saw Frost leap to the side, right off the tower, to avoid the bullet. _That's not possible…. He dodged it!_ He chambered another round, hoping to hit him mid air, and they both fired again. Eclipse felt his shoulder explode in agony, and he fell off the tower. Even through the pain, he saw his shot hit Frost in the same shoulder, but he twisted with the impact, and landed on his feet, a small crater forming where he landed. Eclipse wasn't so lucky, landing on his upper back, dieing instantly.

_And he survived that… damn._ He ran, and grabbed the MUG in front of him. It would be useless at long range, so he ran inside again, this time grabbing a Rocket Launcher. He noticed that someone had set up 2 Large Turrets, and 3 Small turrets. It would stop most people, but he had his doubts if it would even slow down Frost…

He ran, and jumped straight off the ledge outside of his base. He fired his grappling hook at the piece of rock in the middle, swung under the walkway, and landed in front of their base. In addition to their 4 Large Turrets. They started to track him, and he fired a trio of rockets at one. Just as it came in line, the 3 hit, dead center. Behind the smoke, he could see 2 Miniguns spinning up to speed… He rolled to the side, dozens of bullets following him. Running as fast as he could, he felt several bullets bounce off his armor, and several penetrate to bite into his flesh. He jumped off the side of the ground, grappled the bottom, and swung up to the middle again, this time his momentum carrying him up to the second level, away from the turrets. He was at 60 life, so he was fine for the moment. He wondered for a moment where the blue team was… until one appeared through he teleporter in front of him. The he apparently wanted the Gravity Vortex, inbetween him and Eclipse, but the look on his face revealed he was not expecting to see someone up here with him. Eclipse selected his MUG, and he could react, bathed his opponent in flames, incinerating him in seconds. After he finished, he scooped up the Vortex, and stepped over the burning corpse in front of him. Once down in the base, he ran over, and grabbed the flag. Now came the fun part…. Trying to get out, no doubt with the entire blue team gunning for him. He knew Frost would be on top, waiting for him to exit, and there was no way he could make it with him sniping at him. He ran to the central teleporter, took a breath, and ran through, at top speed. Frost was waiting, as he had expected, and Eclipse rushed him. With super human reflexes, Frost turned around, and was able to fire one shoot into Eclipse's gut before he shoulder rammed him.

Both were now in free fall, the Rifle knocked from Frosts hands. Frost shoot his grappling hook at the tower, and pulled himself back up, but Eclipse dove for the gap in the ground, past the turrets, and fired his hook at the ledge, the same as before, and swung over to his own base. He noticed several corpses in front of the base, thankful for the turrets, and that they had been too busy to try to stop him as well. He hobbled into his base, and stuck the flag into the stone next to his own.

"**Did you see that ladies and gentlemen? Even the great Crimson Frost couldn't stop him!"**

The fact that Eclipse slumped down on the Stone, and died from his wound must have been irrelevant. _Great, now Frost is going to be gunning for me!_

He tried to capture the flag again, but Frost killed him each time he got near the base. Someone on the blue team managed to capture the red flag _twice_ while he was trying, meaning that blue team was ahead 2-1.

He respawned again. He had never had so much trouble attacking a base before. A quick look at the scoreboard revealed exactly what he was up against. Frost and Frag Booster both had 35 kills already. He was the only person anywhere near their scores, with 20. The match was going by fast. He hadn't even seen Frag yet, but apparently, he was not only holding off the entire other team, he was dominating them. The same went for Frost.

Shaking his head, he ran forward and grabbed the C.U.T.T.E.R. again. He didn't run into the base this time, and continued running across the level. He wasn't sure how to deal with the turrets yet, but he would think of something. What he saw amazed him. 3 turrets were smoldering wreckage, and another was obviously on its last legs. _Lat legs hmmm… That gives me an idea!_ He approached the turret, and as a credit to its makers, it still started to track him with surprising speed. He fired 3 blades at it, and watched them as they flew. The first hit its front leg, slicing it partway in half, severing hydraulics, the second was slightly to the left, hit it and stuck in, further damaging the leg, and the last struck right below the first 2, completely severing the leg. It tipped forward, and hit the ground, crushing its ammo reserves, detonating the rockets simultaneously. One of the Blue team members leaped out of the second story of the building, right at him, firing the crossbow at him. He leapt backward, firing the cutter several times. The first shot grazed her right thigh; the second removed her left leg below the knee. The third went caught her on the right arm, severing it, biting deep into her chest at the same time. The final shot hit her open mouth, with the predicable result of cleaving off most of her head in a shower of blood.

Satisfied with the results, he proceeded into the base, and finally caught his first sight of Frag the entire match. Frag booster and Crimson Frost, wielding their katanas, were locked together, both trying to push each other back. Taking a chance, he ran past them, and rolled when he was behind Frost, as Frost span around, trying to slice him in half. He blocked Frag's strike, and returned his attention to his opponent. Eclipse ran and grabbed the flag, and fired his grappling hook at the entrances ceiling. He swung past the fight, and started to swing back to his base. Frost turned and followed him, but as he left the door, he saw the other members of blue team heading in with their melee weapons to slow Frag down.

He made it back to his base, ran and captured the flag. Turning around, he saw Frost standing in the down, katana in hand. "You're going to pay for that, bitch." He pressed a button on his belt, and drew the Gravity Vortex he picked up from the blue base. He fired it at Frost, and dove behind the central pillar to avoid the miniature black hole. Frost dove at where he was standing, fired his grappling hook into the flag stone, and stood watching Eclipse as the storm raged. Eclipse could tell that the storm on the outside was nothing compared to the fury Frost was about to unleash on him. Eclipse Drew his daggers, for all the good that would do. He held the one in his left hand reversed against his wrist, and the one in his right hand upright. Once the storm cleared, Frost released his hook, and moved forward slowly.

His first attack was a downward slash, which was so fast, Eclipse barely had time to block it with his left dagger. He lashed out is his other dagger, saw Frost spin to avoid it, and slash horizontally. Eclipse span in response, bringing his left dagger in line with Frosts attack. He leapt into the air, using Frosts blade as leverage, and somersaulted over his head. Frost span in the same direction as before, and barely had time to get his right dagger up to block the slash, which would have taken his head off. He slashed with his left dagger, but Frost countered by knocking his arm out of the way with his free hand, and slamming a fist in Eclipse's armored face.

_No matter what I do…I can't break through… and his attacks are getting stronger!_

He saw Frost sheath his Katana, and get into a lower stance. _This doesn't look good..._ He saw Frost tense, and then seemingly disappear. Instinctively, he brought his daggers in line to block here he thought Frost was attacking, feel a truck slam into them. His daggers broke against the attack, but the force of the attack pushed him back to the raised stone. _How can he be that fast in his armor!_ Frost took several quick steps back, and returned to his sheathed sword stance. Knowing what was coming, he rolled to the side, towards the entrance. Frost's attack missed him by millimeters, and only the force field protecting the flag stone stopped his sword. Eclipse continued to move back, to the area opposite the flag. Frost stepped forward, and entered his stance one more time. There was no flag stone behind him, and even if he rolled, Frost would still hit him. He was dead. Then, Frag Booster appeared at the entrance, holding his katana, and the Blue flag.

"Leave the rookie alone, Frost." Frost kept his stance, between Frag, Eclipse, and the flag. Frag handed Eclipse the flag, sheathed his sword, and entered the same stance as Frost. "You know he wouldn't be much challenge anyway." Frost stayed still, and replied, "He was a good warm up. Now, why don't we move so we aren't interrupted?" Frag only nodded, and then they both slowly stepped to the side, around the pillar, away from the entrance. Eclipse could only watch, he was too shocked to move. He was about to watch the 2 greatest competitors fight in melee combat. He grew up watching the greats like Malcolm, Gorge, and of course, Xan fight. But never did he see them this close before. This was what made him want to join the tournaments. Both stood silently, regarding each other. A rocket hitting the pillar interrupted his thoughts, but at the same time, signaled the 2 champions to begin. Both blurred, and stopped in the middle, sword to sword. He reached over, and grabbed a Grenade Launcher, and the Napalm and poison grenade canisters. He looked down the entrance, and saw the 5 blue warriors attacking. He fired 6 grenades at them, and switched to Napalm grenades. 2 of them entered the short hall, and Eclipse fired all 6 shots into the hallway, turning it into a hell storm of napalm. Both screamed and thrashed, before collapsing in a heap. Switching to poison grenades, he tried to strafe over to the flag, to get the final capture, but the remaining enemies fired through the flames, making it too dangerous. They had reloaded the turrets outside, taking control of them, and making it impossible for any other team members to attack.

He peaked around the corner at Frost and Frag, and was amazed. Both were moving almost too fast to see, blocking, attacking, and countering in a fury of motion. He notices the flames started to die down, and fired the poison grenades in their place. Before the flames had disappeared, the hall was filled with the horrible corrosive, poisonous gas. He fired his CPP through the clouds, but failed to score a hit. He was out of ammo now, and his daggers were in pieces by the flag. He looked over, at the Red flag. It was so close, be could almost feel it. All he had to do was stab the stone with the flag… wait…. The Blue flag! He grabbed it from where it was held in place by the magnets on his back. As the clouds of poison cleared, the remaining 4 charged through with their melee weapons. He stepped out, and sized up the enemy. The first one, wielding a large Double Axe, charged forward. Eclipse side stepped, and used the flag to knock his enemy's right foot from under him. Twirling the flag around, he slammed the flagstaff though his neck, even as he was falling. It easily went through the soft flesh, and struck the ground beneath him. Before the body even struck the ground, he removed the flag, and deflected and axe, spinning past one of the opponents, and stabbed at another's face. The flag head, and clothe, sailed through his eye, and brain, and lanced out the back of his head. In a blur of movement, he sidestepped, as the flags momentum continued to push it out, and grabbed the flag. He finished pulling it through, and brought it around, slamming it into the side of the rear enemy's neck, on the left side. The force snapped his neck, and Eclipse pulled the flag back slightly, then stabbed again, into his left eye, and swung it to the right. The enemy's momentum kept him going left, but the Eclipse strength pulled the flag staff free, tearing out the entire left side of his skull, splattering it all over the wall next to him. He span around, and charged the first enemy, who had just turned to face him. He stabbed him in the middle of the chest, and lifted him several feel into the air. He pulled the flag back, out of him, and let him drop about a foot, before stabbing him in the throat, and jerking the flag staff back up, tearing his head from his shoulders in a shower of blood.

"**Holy Shit! Ladies and Gentlemen, Eclipse is making SURE you are getting your moneys worth tonight! But times almost up! 5……"**

He was next to the central pillar, and he saw the Frag and Frost and moved to the flag area. If anything, their attacks had gotten even faster, each trying to get one last kill in. Everyone knew that neither would back down, this was a matter of pride. Eclipse had to capture the flag one more time, or the match would be called a draw. He ran, determined to make it to his flag.

"**4…."**

He felt like he was moving through water. Frag must have seen him coming, because he took a step back for him.

"**3…."**

Frost stepped forward, pressing his attack on Frag, mistaking his step back as weakness. Eclipse lowered the flag like a spear. Frost looked at him, and realized his mistake a millisecond too late, even for his superhuman speed.

"**2…."**

The flag impaled Frost in the chest, and Eclipse lifted him off his feet, over his head, throwing him off the flag. Even as he died, he continued to fight. He threw his Katana at Eclipse, stabbing through his left thigh. Unable to continue running, he leapt with the last of his strength…

"**1…."**

Time slowed to a stand still. He was moving too slow! He was almost in reach of the stone, and he stabbed downward with all his might, determined to make it a win, to prove himself in this match…

In a flash of light, he blinked, and opened his eye in his pit. His entire team leapt out of their teleporters, as did blue team, to the central holo-projecter middle between the 2 pits. Both teams waited with baited breath as the computers began build the image of the last moment of the arena. Eclipse didn't feel any resistance from the flag, assuming he either missed, or didn't make it in time. As the image steadied, everyone read the score at the top…..

Red team 3, Blue team 2.

He did it! His teammates cheered, and Frag joined in congratulating him. "Damn, I can't believe I pulled that off!" exclaimed Eclipse. Frag smiled, and replied, "Oh I can. Great job!" as he slapped him on the back. Frost finished congratulating his team, and walked around to the Red side. "That was a once in a life time kill you got on me. Luckiest move you ever made…" He said with a grimace. Then he broke into a smile "Next time you won't be as lucky." Frag laughed "Hey, don't you owe me lunch now? That was the bet wasn't it?" Frost chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You want to come to?" he said, looking at Eclipse. He stuttered for a moment, before spitting out, "Sure. Where are you guys eating?" Frag shrugged. "I dunno. Why don't you pick for me? You're the one the pulled off the win." Kara walked up beside him, smiling. "You also pulled off a "Hat Trick", and a nice "Killing Spree", and "Ultra Kill", at the end. This was a pretty high stakes match, so your next paycheck is going to come to about 65,000 credits. AND you killed Crimson Frost, so even though he killed you a half dozen times, your ratings practically doubled from that alone." He blinked "All from this one match?" Frost and Frag both laughed, "This was an A Tier special match Eclipse. The rewards are huge, compared even to what we normally make." Eclipse could just smile. Kara turned to him "I have some work to do, so I'll call you when you get another match, 'kay?" and she turned and walked off. They all went back to their pits, and removed their armor, and got cleaned up. Eclipse found Frost and Frag talking by the exit.

Frag Turned to him, and spoke "Lets get outta here. I'm starved." Eclipse followed him out to his vehicle, which was a sleek Sports hover-car. "Hop in. Frost is getting his, he'll follow us out. Did you decide where to eat yet?" And with that, Eclipse met what would turn out to be 2 of his closest friends ever.


End file.
